Besides a day of fall feasting, followed by an afternoon of satiated numbness watching football, Thursday promotes a day of thanksgiving. That’s a good beginning to follow the mandated, “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you,” First Thess. 5:18

Personally, I think giving thanks in everything is one of the hardest verses in the Bible to live. Evidently, so do many other people.

Being thankful for everything begins with that husband or wife and their annoying habits and ticks and the children we parent. Be thankful – even when reality hits and you realize, “Hey! This isn’t at all like the Cosby Show.”

One of the reasons so many marriages fall apart – even within the churches – comes when Real Life meets us inside a Real Marriage. Being thankful in a Real Marriage means sitting our pouty selves down and praying, “Thank you, Lord, for that horrible creature who failed once again to remember … who has once gain come home late … stayed out too long with friends … and is so very uninteresting and obnoxious. I’m thanking you, God, for what I have – because you said to be thankful, but I for sure don’t know why I should be thankful for that person.”

It also helps – if once in a while, you take stock and remember the few crumbs of human kindness you have received. If more people would be thankful – and if it was much more
difficult to get a divorce, I think we might see more people staying married and over the course of time re-discover the reasons, why they chose to be married.

Being thankful for everything includes our physical circumstances. Some parents seek human growth hormone for their perfectly healthy, average height children – because they want their child to have an extra edge on the playing field of life – or just a bit of cosmetic surgery to enhance their chances at the beauty pageant.

These parents have not learned to be thankful for a healthy child, nor are they teaching their child to like, let alone, be thankful for their God-given healthy body.

Being thankful for everything encompasses how we are created physically, as a woman or a man, with all the flaws and foibles that one inherits genetically. Practicing giving thanks in everything goes a long ways towards dealing with the discontent inside for what I do not have outside.

Being thankful for everything extends to that pregnancy which came along when you least expected a child, wanted one or could see how you could afford the time, money, space or energy. Be thankful for the child º this is God’s will concerning you – even when they feel like an inconvenience that will ruin everything. Whether they feel like a blessing or not, take each child with both hands and thank God for what he has given you and seek His guidance in being a consistent, loving parent form the moment of conception.

Outside the home, the mandate to be thankful ranges to that less than dream job, the politicians who do not reflect your view point, the waiter who forgot you entered the restaurant, the slowpoke road hog who refuses to get out of the fast lane, the department tore employee who ignores you and many more. Try being thankful instead – it might help lower your blood pressure.
Whatever life’s inconveniences this week, no matter how difficult it feels, choose to be thankful – and enjoy a Happy Thanksgiving every day.